Cheating on; bets bribing poll officials —DND chief

By Mario J. Mallari (The Daily Tribune)
Link: http://www.tribuneonline.org/headlines/20100430hed3.html

Acting defense secretary Norberto Gonzales yesterday warned that there would be cheating in next month’s national elections as he said that several people were already trying to bribe polling officials and even the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) and the Philippine National Police (PNP).

“I’m telling you that the cheating has (already) begun,” Gonzales told a gathering of Christian and Muslim religious leaders. “There will be cheating in the coming elections.”

Gonzales did not say who was behind the cheating but said people had already begun trying to bribe members of the body overseeing the poll, the Commission on Elections.

“Money is being distributed to some officials already these days,” he said.

Gonzales bared that attempts to bribe some poll officials, the AFP and PNP to rig the results of the May 10 presidential elections.

AFP on red alert in preparation for May 10 polls

By Alexis Romero (The Philippine Star)
Link: http://www.philstar.com/Article.aspx?articleId=571133&publicationSubCategoryId=63


MANILA, Philippines - The military will be placed on red alert starting today as part of security preparations for the May 10 elections.

Col. Ricardo Nepomuceno, spokesman for the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP)–Task Force HOPE (Honest, Orderly and Peaceful Elections), said the red alert status will be implemented until May 20 to allow the military to monitor the security situation in the field.

“The red alert will start at 8 a.m. It will be nationwide. We will start the manning of our (HOPE) operations center and that is the signal for us to start implementing our security operations,” Nepomuceno said.

A red alert means that all the military personnel should be readily available for deployment anytime. Such alert level would also entail the cancellation of all leaves to ensure adequate manpower.